Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The University of Arizona gymnastics team fell to No. 4 Alabama Friday evening. Alabama received a score of 196.225 and Arizona earned 194.375 at the season opener Friday evening in front of a crowd of 12, 123.

“I'm really proud of the fight from the girls tonight,” said head coach Bill Ryden.  “There were some amazing performances and we definitely learned a lot about some girls tonight. It was the next step in the learning process. The personality of this team is going to develop over time because we don't have nearly everyone back and healthy yet, but as that happens and as everyone gains experience that's only going to help us.”

The Wildcats began the meet on bars and earned a team total of 48.950. Junior Lexi Mills and sophomore Gabby Laub led the team on bars each earning a score of 9.825. Making her GymCat debut was freshman Victoria Ortiz earning a score of 9.775. Junior Krysten Howard contributed a score of 9.725. Rounding out bars for the Wildcats was sophomore Selynna Felix-Terrazas receiving a score of 9.70.

“We did great on bars and I don't even think that's the best we can do,” Ryden said. “I have a lot of confidence in our bar routines because that was the event we were ready for the soonest. It was a very calm and confident start to the meet, I was very proud with the way they started the meet.”

Following bars the team continued onto vault, earning a team total of 48.750. Laub contributed a score of 9.800. Junior Jessie Sisler, freshman Madison Cindric and Felix-Terrazas each earned a score of 9.750. Flores made a 9.700 contribution to the team total. The Wildcats finished the second rotation in the lead with a running total of 97.700. 

Wildcats continued onto floor for the third rotation and scored a team total of 47.850.

“The floor lineup we have is not the floor lineup we envisioned two months ago” said Ryden. “And it's not going to be the floor lineup we will have in a few weeks either. That event is going to take a while to develop. I expect to see a huge difference in floor, especially from Shay (Fox), Jessie (Sisler) and Selynna (Felix-Terrazas), at the next meet.”

Flores led the team on floor with a score of 9.750. Cindric earned a 9.725. Schneider contributed a score of 9.675 to the team. Sisler and Felix-Terrazas added a pair of 9.350 scores. Senior Shay Fox provided a score of 8.950. 

Entering the last rotation with a running score total of 145.550, the Cats finished on beam with a team score of 48.825.

On beam, Sisler won the title event with a score of 9.950 also earning her personal best score on the event.

“We were far better tonight (on beam) than how we started last year,” Ryden said. “Unfortunately we did have a fall but the next five routines were great and that was huge. Jessie's beam routine tonight was absolutely incredible. Even before we got the judges' scores I knew it was an incredible routine. I had never seen her do a beam set that great before.”

Helping Sisler contribute a great score on beam was Flores with a score of 9.800. Behind her was Schneider who received a 9.725. Cindric and Mills both earned a score of 9.675. Fox ended the night with a 9.100.

Flores, the only all-around gymnast from Arizona received a second place finish with a score of 39.050.

“Allie had a great start tonight, Ryden said. “She was able to have a solid beam routine and that allowed us to not have to count a fall. She was also able to have a good floor routine after basically three misses. Her vault wasn't the best I've seen from her but she competed very well tonight overall. She's kind of the team's competitive edge and the team looks up to her for that.”

Strength wasn't only seen in the returners this evening, however. The tree freshmen, Ortiz, Schneider and Cindric were some of the team's strongest and most consistent competitors for the Wildcats.

“Our three freshmen did great tonight,” Ryden said. “There was not a single miss between them on any event. They couldn't have had a better debut. It's going to be a bright career over the next four years for these girls.”

The team finished the night with a final score of 194.375 and Alabama finishing with a score of 196.225. Despite the loss, Ryden is excited for the growth the team has made in preparation for this season and is looking forward to the team developing even further.

“The goal always is to have a clean meet,” said Ryden. “We didn't quite do that tonight so that's what we need to work on. We'll need to fix those mistakes on floor and hopefully we will have more athletes available next meet. But I do believe the athletes that competed tonight are going to be much more confident next week. Now the first meet is out of the way, they can continue to get stronger as the season goes on. Overall I'm very proud of the girls tonight.”

The Wildcats will host their first meet of the season next Friday, Jan., 16 at 7 p.m in McKale. The meet will be a quad meet against Illinois-Chicago, Sacramento State and Wisconsin-Stout. Following the home opener, the Wildcats will head to UCLA for a meet on Monday, Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. The meet in Los Angeles will be aired on the Pac-12 Network.  For continued coverage of Arizona Gymnastics, follow the team at facebook.com/ArizonaGymnastics and on Twitter @AZGymnastics.